Near-miss was only the beginning for fliers

Watchdog

Yet that incident -- in which a United Express flight almost hit another plane while taking off last month at Lehigh Valley International Airport -- sparked a sequence of events that amounted to a headache the size of a 757.

It took two weeks and help from Watchdog for Mychaliszyn-Simko to straighten out her affairs.

"It makes you mad because we didn't do anything wrong," Mychaliszyn-Simko said. "Why should it have to be this difficult?"

While the resulting problems were petty compared to almost dying, here's what happened. Mychaliszyn-Simko, her husband, John Simko, and their daughter were headed to a Minnesota Vikings football game. Their flight to Minneapolis, via Chicago, was canceled after the mishap.

United's offer of hotel and restaurant vouchers seemed gracious. They didn't need a hotel. They live in Whitehall Township. But they did try to eat out.

Friendly's refused to take the vouchers without explanation. Red Robin also refused, saying they could be used only if they also were using the hotel voucher.

United spokesman Jeff Kovick said there is no policy tying meal vouchers to hotel vouchers, but meal vouchers aren't good at all restaurants.

Red Robin told me it won't take meal vouchers at the restaurant because it can't cash them with the airline. But Hilton Garden Inn guests can order take-out room service from Red Robin and cash in the meal vouchers through the hotel. Mychaliszyn-Simko said Red Robin didn't tell her about the room service angle.

When they finally got to Minneapolis on Sept. 20, the Doubletree hotel charged them $101 for the night they missed, despite Mychaliszyn-Simko's call after the near-crash to try to cancel it.

Neither the hotel nor online booking service Expedia would refund it.

A hotel manager told me Mychaliszyn-Simko had a "contract" with Expedia, not the hotel.

"She booked with them, not with us," he said, refusing to give me his name.

But the hotel got money for the stay, right?

Yes, the manager said.

Then couldn't you refund it, I asked? This isn't your typical cancellation.

Ask Expedia, the manager repeated, adding, "I can't force another company to change their policies."

When I told him this case wasn't typical, he checked their itinerary again.

"It seems that there has been a refund processed just a while ago," he said.

Maybe it was under consideration before I called, but Mychaliszyn-Simko doubts it.

An Expedia supervisor had told her the night was nonrefundable, and offered a future $100 voucher.

One more thing on the hotel -- it's so underhanded I have to share it, even though it was corrected.

The family checked out of the Doubletree as scheduled Sept. 21 and was hit with a $50 "early departure" fee.

You stayed only one night, she was told, when you booked two.

But I paid for two, Mychaliszyn-Simko responded.

She got a refund, but only after chewing out a hotel manager by phone after she got home.

Altogether, because the family fought back, it lost only about $20 -- a day's car rental they didn't challenge.

If Mychaliszyn-Simko's name is familiar to Watchdog fans, that's because I wrote about her last month.

Perfume was stolen from her daughter's luggage on a return trip from Mexico in August, and American Airlines won't pay for it.

She's now appealing to the Transportation Security Administration, which oversees luggage screening.

The Watchdog is published Thursdays and Sundays. Contact me by e-mail at watchdog@mcall.com, by phone at 610-841-2364 (ADOG), by fax at 610-820-6693, or by mail at The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown, PA 18101.